System of developing and working mines



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1v.

N. P. HULST.

SYSTEM 0E DEVELOPING AND WORKING MINES. No. 393,306. 1321.1'. nted'Ngy. 20.1888? FW, l (n,

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(No Model.) `s .sheets-sheet 2.

' N. P. HULST.

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N. PEEls Phnlouihngmpher. washington. DJ;

(Nof'Model.) `V3v Sheets-Sheet '3.

N. P. HULST.

SYSTEM 0F VVDEVELOPING AND WOMENSl MINES. 393 306. 1 Pate ted'Nov. 20, 1888,. I

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@ferien9 PATENT NELSON P.HULST, OF MILVAUKEE, VISCONSIN.

SYSTEM OF DEVELOPING AND WORKING MINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 393,306, dated November 20, 1888.

(No model.)

.To @ZZ-whom, t may concern.-

Be it known that I, NELSON I?. HULsT, of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee, and in the State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Systems of Developing and Working Mines; and I dov hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof. My invention relates to systems of developing and working mines; and it consists in a new method of exploitation in which rock llingis used to ll the spaces in the ore-bed exhausted of ore, all as will be fully set forth hereinafter. In the drawings, Figure l is a general view showing a portion of a mine being developed by my system. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through a hoisting-shaft and its accompanying balanced cage-winzes on the line 2 2 of Figs. 4 and 5. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section through the ore of the ore-body, and also through the rock iilling where it has replaced the ore, and bisecting a winze operated with -balanced cages,'its plane being at right angles to the plane of the section of Fig. 2 and on the line 3 3 of Figs. 4 and 5. Figs. 4 and 5 are horizontal sections on the lines 4 4 and 5 5, respectively, in Figs. 2 and 3.

My system is especially adapted for use in mines the highly-inclined walls of which are too wide apart and too soft or friable to permit the use of Stull-timbers or pillars of ore to support them; and the object of my invention is to provide a more economical method of mining where rock filling has to be used than is at present in use, the economy being effected by reducing the large amount of dead-work 7 required by using a single equipment only of tramways and cars, by avoiding the necessity of rehandling the ore and rock through specially-prepared chutes, as well as saving the expense of constructing said chutes and their accompanying ladder-ways, and, nally, dispensing with the tramming of empty ore and rock cars, all of which disadvantages and expenses are entailed in mining by the ordinary ore and rock chute system.

My invention consists, primarily, in the combination of a hoisting-shaft with one or more winzes, each winze being equipped with balanced cages and having a continuous vertical series of framed end openings along two of its opposite sides, which openings connect with timbered passage-ways (and these in turn with timbered cross-drifts) for cars, there being an opening for a car at an elevation of every eight feet, or thercabout, from bottom to top of the said winze.

In the several ligurcs of the drawings, N represents the hanging wall of the mine, and O the foot wall.

P represents the ore in the ore-bed, and Q the rock filling which takes the place of the ore in the said bed when the ore is exhausted.

R R designate the balanced cages, and S is the hoistingshaft.

l, 2, and 3 designate the drifts connecting the hoisting-shaft and winzes, there being only three levels shown in the present illustration, (although of course the number beyond two is immaterial,) and consequently there are only two winzes shown, which are marked W and IW, respectively. These winzes are irst sunk assniall winzes from an upper to a lower drift,

and then enlarged and completed by being built up in a timbered rock-filled pillar of about twenty feet width, reaching from the foot wall to the hanging wall of the ore-bed, and which partially fills a chamber excavated purposely for it; The portions of the excavated chamber outside of the rock-filled pillar form parallel spaces reaching from the foot wall to the hanging wall ofthe ore-body, between the plank and post walls of the said rockuilled pillar and the ore-walls of the excavated chamber on each side thereof, (between the points a b and c d in Figs. 3 and 4, from a to b being the original limits of the excavated chamber,) and in these parallel spaces the timbered passageways which are to serve the purpose of crossdrifts through the ore-body are built up, one above the other, as shown atp p in Fig. 3, the caps and sills of said timbering serving as horizontal braces to keep the rocklled pillar securely in place.

In Fig. 2 a vertical central section of the rock-filled pillar Q is shown, and in Figs. 4 and 5 horizontal sections of the same rock pillar Q are shown, the plank and post side walls of which are indicated at their limits by the letters b b c c, designating the corners of roo said timbered walls.

In this method of working a mine it is designed to win the ore from below upward. The hoisting-shaft S (shown in Fig. 2) in the hanging wall N is sunk to any desired depth. From a point near its bottom a drift, l, is driven by shortest course to the ore-bed. At the point where it is designed to make another level above the bottoni one a second drift, 2, is driven from the hoisting-shaft in the same transverse vertical plane as the lower drift or level and well into the ore-bed. The lower drift, 1, as it is carried into the ore-bed, is widened out into a chamber having its roof about eight feet above its floor, and of a width sufiiciept for a pillarof rock about twenty feet wide to be built therein, while at the same time spaces will be left between the pillar of rock and the ore side walls of the chamber. These spaces, as also the rock pillar, must reach from the foot O to the hanging wall N, and the width of the spaces must be sufficient to allow timber-work to be erected in them, as before described. From drift 2, at a point a few feet in the ore-body from the hanging wall, a small wiuze is sunk, making connection with the chamber before mentioned, which winze, after completion of the rock pillar, becomes winzc W. In the iloor of this chamber an excava tion, E', is made vertically beneath the winze sunk from the level above. This excavation is made of suitable size to accommodate the cages It to be used in the winze XV', and of such a depth that the upper deck of the cages can be brought to the level of the oor of the chamber. NVithn the chamber the timberwork is erected along bot-h its side walls, making a conti nuous cross-drift or passageway for tram-cars from foot to hanging wall. Through the middle of the chamber the timber-work of the drift from the hoisting-shaft is continued. As it progresses into the chamber, the spaces between it and thc'side-wall cross-drifts or passage-ways are filled with rock, and rock also is iilled into the remaining space of the chamber not occupied by the winze, which is built up with timber from the bottom of the excavation E', before mentioned.

The t-imbering ofthe winze is carried up to the root` of the chamber, and is constructed to have open connection with the drift l, leading to the hoisting-shaft S, and also with the sidewall cross-drifts or passage-ways for the cars before mentioned. The filling with rock having been completed in this chamber, another chamber is excavated perpendicular] y above this first one and ofthe same dimensions. rlhe excavation of this second chamber is begun and carried forward from the winze. The ore is removed through the winzc and the drift l below connecting with the hoistingshaft. The rock and timber can be lowered by winze from the drift 2 above.

Then the excavation of ore from this second chamber is completed, side-wall or cross-drift timbers are erected, as in the chamber below', having their sills resting `on the caps of the cross-drift timbers below. Rock is illed into the entire space of this chamber not occupied by the cross-drifts p p and the timbcring of the winze,which is also carried up to the roof of the chamber. This work of excavating chambers, setting up cross-drifts therein, extending` the winze-timbers tothe roof, and iilling the remaining space of the chamber with rock is repeated until the dri ft2 above is reached.

In the chamber connecting with drift 2 the timber-work of said drift is continued as in the ease of the chamber started from drift 1, in order to make a connection from the hoisting shaftl with the winze W2 tributary to this level. It is shown in Fig. 2 in elevation, where 1 and XV are respectively drift l and its tributary winze, 2 and W2 being drift 2 and its corresponding tributary winzc.

The timbering of winzc W is extended above drift 2, where it forms a chamber, E, designed to hohl the machinery used to operate the balanced cages R of that winzc. On the floor of the chamber below drift 2 the timber-work ofwinze YV isstarted (in a space, E2, left in the rock filling) and built up in this chamber just as a portion of winne Wl was built below the iloor of drift 1, and for the Same purpose. The bottom of winze W' is located the same distance from the foot wall as was the bottom of winze W. Its middle line is in the same transverse vertical plane as that of the middle line of winze NV. Drift 3 is driven from thehoisting-shaft-S in thesamc transverse vertical plane as drifts land 2,and, as before, a winze is started from this level to connect vertically with the lower completed part of the winze W2, started in the chamber just below drift 2. The work of building a pillar of roek,with itsinelosed winze and connecting crossdrifts, is repeated from drift 2 npward,just the same as described from drift i upward to drift 2, to a point where drift 3 is to be made, and so upward, as the work of mining ore demands.

In the working of a mine, however, by this method it will suffice that the building of a rock pillar and its accompanying winze and passage-ways or cross-drifts be carried forward in advance ofthe mining of ore to that point only where delay and impediment to economical working of the mine will not be occasioned. Thus the pillar, tvc., above drift 2 need be started only when the ore is well nigh exhausted between drifts l and 2.

Having opened or developed the mine by this system, we have a hoisting-shaft with its accompanying winzes and passage-ways connecting therewith, which erosscut the ore-body on both sides of the winze at every lift or elevation of eight feet, or thereabont.

To begin mining, the ore at the junction of the cross drifts with the foot and hanging walls is first attacked and at the lowest point i. e., the bottom of the lowest level.

Inasmuch as in the drawings I have represented the mining as being completed (by removal of the orc and substitution of the rock filling) from the lower level up to the pointin- IOC IIO

dcated by the line C I), Figs. 2 and 3, in describing the operation of mining I will begin with Fig. 4, referring incidentally, for purpose of illustration, tothe earlier figures, showing'various stages ofthe work already accomplished in levels below the line on which Fig. 4 is taken. Fig. 4 represents a horizontal section of Fig. 2 online 4 4t before mining has been carried above that point, and the points designated by a a d d at the extremity of the crossdrifts would be where the ore above said line 4 4 should be first attacked. Enough of the timberwork of the passage ways or crossdrifts is first removed to uncover a small face of ore, and longer post-s are used to replace the posts thus removed, which serve to keep the plank side walls of the rock pillar secure. These longer posts well braced will give greater security te the pillar. As fast as the ore is removed, thereby allowing room to move the tram -road away from the rock-filled pillar, this is done, and rock is filled in against the plankiiig and posts which incase the rock pillar. As the mining progresses, the rock is filled against the pillar until the filling reaches the passage-ways leading from the Winze to the cross-drifts, (said passage-ways being shown at e e in Figs. 3, 4, and 5.) From the ends of these passage-ways farthest from the winze the timber-Work of a longitudinal drift is erected and continued outward in both directions (identical with the longitudinal drifts shown at ff in Figs. 3 and 5) toward the everreceding 'face of ore which is being mined. Ihen the rock filling of the first lift or bench has been extended sufficiently to make it safe to begin mining on the bench immediately above it, the work of mining is begun on the upper or second bench, commencing the attack on the ore at same relative points as on iirst bench. Each bench has its longitudinal drift located vertically above the longitudinal drift below it. Two or more benches can thus be worked at the saine time, as shown in Fig. 3, the nuniberpossible tobe worked being limited only by the capacity ofthe winze and its hoisting-shaft.

Fig. 3, as stated, shows a vertical section through these longitudinal drifts and the winze, and in Fig. 5 one of these longitudinal drifts leading from winze IV is shown in plan. As is evident, by this system of working a mine, no drifting whatever is required after the pillar of rock is completed. The progress of mining and filling with rock provides the longitudinal drifts required. The timber of the cross drifts used in the chambers can be immediately used in the longitudinal drifts built in the rock filling. It is obvious that under some circumstances the rock-filled pillar may be built up in an excavated chaniber directly against one side wall of said chamber, in which ease, in place of the described parallel spaces on each side of the said rock-filled pillar, there would be a space on one side only to receive the cross-drift or passage-way timbers pp, and si inilarl y the described longitudinal drifts would extend only from one side of the winze.

By the use of my balanced cages in the winzes I am enabled to lower the ore as mined to the level of the first drift, so that it is on a plane with the bottoni of the hoisting-shaft, and in so doing I utilize the superior weight of the descending ore to raise the rock, timber, &c., to the level from whence the ore was' taken, this being a great saving of motive power, and a further advantage lies in the fact that the rock and timber from above and the ore from the mine are all delivered at the saine plane in the hoisting shaft, thereby avoiding the tramining of the same at different levels, the tramming of empty cars and expensive rehandling` of the said ore, rock, and timber.

In Fig. l I show various details of construetion, which will be readily understood by those skilled in the art. This is a general View, wherein I have selected a part of winze NVZ, designating its framed end openings by the letters g g and next them the passageways c e, and then the cross-drifts p p, which latter are timbered by the horizontal braces h 7i and Vertical posts 't' t', the planking next said posts being marked 7c la, and the rock-'filled pillar between said plank and post side walls being marked Q. I also show a portion of the drift or level 2, representing that part which extends through the rock-lled pillar, and have illustrated the manner of timbering said drift. In addition,this gure shows the tinibering of the winzes and various passage-ways in detail.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a system of developing and working a mine, the combination of rock-filled pillars huilt within and partially filling an excavation in an ore-bed, for purpose of supporting the foot and hanging walls of the ore-bed, having its sides properly secured by posts which are braced against the ore side walls of the exeavated chamber, with a winzc built in said pillar, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a system of developing and working a niine, the combination of rock-'filled pillars and winzes inclosed therein, with a space on either or both sides of the pillars, which entirely erosscut the orc-bed, wherein timberwork of cross-drifts or passage-ways may be built coiitemporaneously with the construetion of the pillar, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a system of developing and working a mine, the combination of a hoisting-shaft with one or more winzes, each winze being equipped with balanced cages, and having a continuous vertical series of framed openings in either or both ends for passage-ways for cars, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4l. In a system of developing and working a mine,a rock-filled pillar and drift-timbering or IOO ISG

timbcred spaces which serve for driftsmhereby the driving of' drifts required to develop the mine is avoided, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in

l Ii cousin, in the presence of two Witnesses.

i NELSON P. HULST.

VitneSSQS:

H. G. UNDERWOOD, MAURICE F. FREAR.

the county of Milwaukee and State of Wis- 2o 

